Centinel (Samuel Bryan)


Position: Anti-Federalist

State Representing: Pennsylvania

Occupation and Background: Samuel Bryan was a writer. Not much else is known about his life as a person because his most recognizable contributions to history were all under his writings as Centinel.

Constitutional Convention: Samuel Bryan did not attend the Constitutional Convention because he was not invited. The only part he had during the fighting over ratifying the Constitution were the letters he wrote under the pseudonym "Centinel".

State's Ratifying Convention: Samuel Bryan did not attend the Pennsylvania State Ratifying Convention. He did not attend for the same reason that he did not attend the Constitutional Convention.

Arguments for/ against Constitution: The writings of Samuel Bryan under the pseudonym Centinel strongly opposed the ratifying of the Constitution. These letters argued that the Constitution as it was did not do a very good job at protecting liberties of the people. He thought that the Constitution should set up a government similar to the one that was running in Pennsylvania at the time. The letters he wrote mentioned that the government being set up would favor those who were wealthier, and that in time the Senate would become the dominant power in Congress.

References: Three references to support Samuel Bryan are Brutus (Robert Yates) and Cato (George Clinton) because they wrote letters under pseudonyms supporting the same ideas as the Letters of Centinel did, and Patrick Henry because he encouraged some of the same ideas as Samuel Bryan.

Bibliography:
Anonymous, "Anti- Federalist Arguments from Pennsylvania," Annals of American History.(*)
"Centinel" open letter "To the Freemen of Pennsylvania", Philadelphia Independant Gazetteer, October 5, 1787.(*)
"Samuel Bryan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 19 Sep. 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Bryan>.